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Bdellium, if it is benzoin, amomum, and cardamomum were perhaps rather imported through Media than the actual produce of the country, which is too cold in the winter to grow any good spices. The mineral products of Media noted by the ancient writers are nitre, salt, and certain gems, as emeralds, lapis lazuli, and the following obscurer kinds, the zathene, the gassinades, and the narcissitis.
It was of three colors light blue, dark blue, and purple. The golden specks, however, with which it was sprinkled really spots of yellow pyrites rendered it useless to the gem-engravers of Pliny's time. The zathene, the gassinades, and the narcissitis were gems of inferior value.
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